


A New Tradition

by HumanJukebox



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: A little bit of emotioning, Christmas, Christmas Sweaters, F/F, Family, Fluff, Humor, festive fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:55:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21940051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HumanJukebox/pseuds/HumanJukebox
Summary: It takes something ugly, colourful and scratchy to really tie this family together, and the idea comes from perhaps the most surprising source
Relationships: Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield
Comments: 2
Kudos: 94





	A New Tradition

**Author's Note:**

> Third and last Christmas-themed one-shot
> 
> This was actually the first one I wrote and finished
> 
> Many thanks to my amazing beta
> 
> Hope you enjoy :) 
> 
> Merry Christmas to you all

**A New Tradition**

“Do you think she’ll hate it? I mean, it’s a bit daft, init?” Noah stares from the items discarded on top of the bed up at Vanessa. She has that soppy, loving look on her face again, and Noah can feel his cheeks redden a little. 

He should’ve known she’d love this particular idea━it  _ is _ Vanessa after all, she loves all these family type of things━but his mum, that’s another story. She’s not as soppy as Vanessa, or maybe that’s just because she rarely━if ever━shares that side with him. 

Maybe they shouldn’t go through with his idea. 

“It’s dumb. Maybe we should ju━” 

“No!” Vanessa interrupts him and holds her hand out. “It’s a great idea, Noah. It’ll be perfect.”

“But what about… You know she’s never gunna agree to it.”

There’s a glint in Vanessa’s eyes and a small, almost smirk-like grin forming on her lips. “Just leave that to me, love.”

XOX

Vanessa smiles as she looks over at the three boys sitting together on the couch. Noah’s in the middle with Moses and Johnny leaning into his sides as he shows them some funny videos on his phone. A lot of things have changed since she started dating Charity, but this new development is one of her favourite things; seeing the three boys doing things together, like brothers.

She then looks over at Sarah who’s sitting sideways in the armchair, earbuds in and smiling at her phone, her thumbs almost moving at the speed of light. Probably texting that Danny kid as usual. It had been a surprise when she’d found out that Sarah was staying and living with them━or maybe it was them living with Sarah considering it was Sarah’s house first━but it had actually been good. 

Of course there was the annoying teenage behaviour, she knew Noah was a grump━mostly in the mornings━and a backtalker, but she was definitely not expecting Sarah to be worse than him. And then of course there was Charity. She wasn’t much better, but for some reason Vanessa found her behaviour more endearing, and she knew Charity would end up doing as told anyways. 

Vanessa looks down at her watch before moving towards the staircase and calling up the stairs, “Charity! We need to get going!”

There’s some movement upstairs but it stays silent for a moment before she hears Charity call back, “Just looking for a top to wear.”

Noah looks up and his eyes connect with Vanessa’s, sending her a pleading and hopeful look. Vanessa nods and steps onto the first step of the staircase. “Can you keep them busy? I’ll be down in a few.”

Noah simply nods and looks back down at his phone again. That had also been a recent development, having silent conversations with Noah. A simple look was enough to convey what they meant. 

Making her way up the stairs, Vanessa contemplates how to get Charity to agree to their idea. She probably should’ve thought up a plan earlier but she’d been too busy adoring and beaming at the boys who looked simply adorable in their Christmas outfits. 

She enters their bedroom and watches as Charity pulls out a new top and stares at it for a moment before placing it back into the closet again. Ever the indecisive one. Vanessa smiles and lets her eyes trail up and down over Charity’s half-undressed upper body. 

“When you’re done ogling the goodies, can you help me out? I can’t find anything to wear,” Charity speaks up and Vanessa can feel her cheeks heat up a little. She doesn’t give in to the smirk on Charity’s face however, and instead lets her eyes deliberately drag over Charity’s full body.

“Kinda like this look,” Vanessa starts but then tilts her head. “But then you’d freeze to death, and I also don’t really like the thought of someone else seeing your ‘goodies’.”

Charity raises an eyebrow but before she can retort with a sexual remark, Vanessa speaks up again. “Anyways… I actually have something you can wear. I laid it on the bed for you to put on after your shower.”

Charity frowns for a moment before shaking her head. “Hold on… You━That… You mean that reindeer sweater? Oh, no.” 

“Yes,  _ deer _ .” Vanessa quips. 

Charity sends her an unimpressed look before furiously shaking her head. “No bloody way in hell am I wearing some scratchy ugly monstrosity. No. It’s not happening.”

Vanessa pouts at her. “Oh, come on, Charity. It’s not that bad.”

She points down at her own sweater. It’s black with white sleeves and has a picture of a colourful tree on it with bold letters above it saying  _ ‘Get Lit’ _ . 

“You told me this one looked cute so why━”

“On you! It’s like completely your…  _ thing _ ,” Charity interrupts. 

Furrowing her eyebrows and tilting her head, Vanessa looks at Charity. “My  _ thing _ ?”

“Come on babe, you know what I mean.  _ You _ like wearing them itchy sweaters.  _ I _ like them on the floor.” 

Vanessa lets out a sigh. “Look. The boys are all wearing sweaters too, and they look dead cute in them. Even Sarah has agreed to wear hers. We’ll all be matching.” 

Charity’s eyes widen a little before she narrows them at Vanessa. “You planned this.”

Vanessa simply shrugs. “Maybe. But it wasn’t my idea.”

Charity furrows her eyebrows. This was totally up Vanessa’s alley, but if it wasn’t her who came up with this ridiculous idea, then who was it?

“It was your son’s idea,” Vanessa tells her before taking a seat on the bed. She has a feeling that it might be a little while before Charity will  _ finally  _ put the sweater on, but whether she’ll have to force her is up to her stubborn fiancée.

“Who, Moses? I mean…” Charity tilts her head. “He does take after you with that weird obsession for itchy sweaters.”

Vanessa shakes her head with a smile. “No, not Moses. Your other son.”

“Johnny?”

Vanessa’s heart warms at that answer but she still can’t help the little laugh that escapes her lips. Charity simply continues to look absolutely confused. 

“No you daft idiot. It were Noah’s idea.”

If she thought Charity’s confused face was cute, then her shocked face is even better. 

“Noah? As in, the moody teenager who grumped at me a few weeks ago when I suggested we all go to the park together? The one who never wants to do anything family-related with us? Like even taking a picture of all of us together that you suggested? You mean  _ that _ Noah?”

Vanessa simply nods her head. “One and the same. Look, he may be a grump and very moody, which he has in common with his mum━”

“Oi!” Charity narrows her eyes at her but Vanessa simply gives her a pointed look. Charity can’t help but roll her eyes and let out a sigh because she knows her fiancée has a point.

“━but he does have his moments, even you can agree with that. I think after the rocky year we had, all the hardships we’ve been through and have overcome, he has finally realised that not only am I staying, but also that he finally has that stable family life he’s always longed for. What both of you have longed for.”

Charity lets a small smile settle on her lips. It annoys her when Vanessa is right━and that happens quite often━but the statement really is true and she can’t disagree. She hadn’t even noticed how much they’d both needed and wanted to be part of an actual family unit until it happened. 

She knew Noah was wary of their relationship in the beginning, and who’d fault him really, but they’ve never been more settled as they are now. And that’s all because of Vanessa. 

“So, maybe this is his way of fully accepting us. Accepting  _ me _ . And giving into doing things that  _ families _ do,” Vanessa adds with a small shrug.

“You’re really irritating right now,” Charity says instead, trying to swallow around the lump that had found its way into her throat. It had been a struggle for so long━which is pretty much the biggest understatement considering her history━and now here they are. Happy, healthy, and part of a real, loving family.

“I know.” Vanessa grins up at her and Charity rolls her eyes but steps forward to place a kiss on her lips. Standing up straight again, she lets out a long sigh as she stares at the dark blue sweater with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on it laying on the bed. 

“Do I really have to?” It wouldn’t be her if she didn’t at least try to fight it, but the grin on Vanessa’s face lets her know that it’s no use and that they both know that she’s going to wear it anyways.

“You do.” 

Charity groans and reaches for it. “This better be worth it.”

“It will be.” Vanessa’s smile only continues to grow. 

“I’m holding you to that,” Charity replies with a wink. After putting the sweater on, she immediately pulls at the collar and scrunches up her face. “I reserve the right to complain all day.”

There’s a glint in Vanessa’s eyes as she replies, “So, it’ll just be like every other day then.”

“I can still put a different top on,” Charity warns her with narrowed eyes. Vanessa lets out a chuckle as she looks down at her watch before standing up and pulling Charity along with her. 

“You won’t. Besides, we have to leave.” 

They walk down the stairs, Charity being led by Vanessa who’s still holding on to her hand. She could think it’s so she doesn’t have the chance to run back upstairs, but she knows it’s because Vanessa likes holding her hand. And if she’s honest, she likes holding Vanessa’s hand just as much. 

“Finally! Can we go now?” It’s Sarah who asks, even though she’s still staring intently at her phone. 

“We can,” Vanessa replies and moves forwards to grab their coats, but she’s being pulled back because Charity is frozen behind her. She turns her head to look at her but notices that Charity is staring at the three boys still seated on the couch. 

Vanessa turns back and looks from the boys up to Charity, a smile forming on her lips at the loving look on her fiancée’s face. She takes a step closer to Charity and tugs at her hand before leaning up to whisper in her ear, “Don’t they look cute?”

Charity can only dumbly nod her head as a smile starts to grow on her face. The youngest two are wearing matching burgundy red sweaters with dinosaurs covered in Christmas lights on them, and Noah’s wearing a dark blue sweater with all the reindeer pulling Santa’s sled. They look cute, they look perfect. 

She looks down at Vanessa’s sweater and then at Sarah’s━a lighter blue sweater with a big snowman on it━before looking back down at her own. She knows that Marlon and Chas will probably have a field day when they see that they’re all in sort of matching Christmas sweaters, but she doesn’t really care right now. 

Charity lets her smile fully bloom on her face, she knows she’s probably grinning like crazy but when her eyes connect with Noah’s and she sees how happy he looks, she knows the jokes will all be worth it. She sends him a wink and chuckles at the small blush that appears on his face before he quickly looks away again. 

“Alright,” she says loudly, “let’s get them coats on! I’m starving!”

The younger boys giggle and rush towards the coat rack by the front door. Noah quickly follows to help them out, with Sarah and Vanessa not far behind him. Charity makes a mental note to pull Noah aside later to tell him that she loves his idea and that maybe they should make it a tradition.

Charity shakes her head at herself. Who would’ve thought she’d end up here? Who would’ve thought she’d actually start to like Christmas, coming up with traditions and all?

“Char’ty! We go now!” She’s pulled from her thoughts by Johnny’s cute but demanding voice and she quickly makes her way over to them, taking her coat from Vanessa and placing a kiss on her cheek. 

“Calm your boots, Mr. Woodfield.” Charity playfully pulls his hat over his eyes before tugging her coat on, smiling at Johnny’s affronted mumbles as he tries to correct his hat’s placement. 

Last Christmas had been a good one, but she has a feeling that this year will be even better as she watches her three boys and her granddaughter rush out the door. A hand grabs onto hers and after Vanessa’s locked the door behind them, they start to follow. 

Yeah, she really can’t wait to celebrate Christmas in the proper way. With family all around her and new traditions being made. 


End file.
